To Die For
by Angel21689
Summary: *Finished!!* Draco and Hermione are in their 7th year and have been made Head Boy and Girl. Maybe Draco isn't really as bad as everyone thinks he is. Can Hermione accept him even after all those years of his taunting?
1. The Uncalled For

Disclaimer: Do I really have to say anything? I only own the plot. Obviously.

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To Die For

Chapter One-The Uncalled For

Hermione dashed around the corner, her sleek shiny hair streaked with red streaming out behind her. Pearl eye shadow was swirled lightly over her eyelids and lip-gloss was shining on her lips. It looked as if there was a slight bit of blush on her cheeks, but that could've been from her running. It definitely was a change from the girl that had first entered Hogwarts 7 years ago. Boys had even started looking at her and realizing how pretty she really was, especially without the puffy hair. Last year Harry and her had gone out for a little, and when that hadn't worked they had broken up and Dean had eventually asked her out. They hadn't communicated much over the summer and he was now with Lavender.

She made a mad run to get to her next, and last, class that day, DADA, at the end of the corridor, so not to be late. Since she was now head girl she needed to make a good impression by getting to every single class on time. She had been here just 5 minutes ago, but then had remembered about the skinny book that they had received yesterday, the first day of school. Before anyone could say anything she had hurried back up to the head girl and head boy dormitories and grabbed the book that she had read thoroughly last night on the comfortable couch in the head boy and girl common room. Now, on her way back, she hoped she would make it on time. 

Her efforts were wasted though. She heard the sound of the bell ring one second, and the next ran head first into the person she dreaded; the blonde haired-pure blooded jerk that she had to partner with as head girl. She could still remember the day Ron had found out. "_HE'S_ HEAD BOY!? I'll bet anything his blasted father bought his way in for him. That little…" It was absurd how furious he had been. Hermione could still picture Ron's bright red face; fire shooting out of his ears, and almost laughed.

"Hermione?"

She gazed up into the shadowy gray eyes of the head boy who was strangely being considerate toward her. She would have thought that he would have at least called her mudblood once by now for running into him, or for even just being there. She was surprised to see that he actually looked worried, worried about her. There were a few wrinkle lines creasing his forehead and his mouth was turned down slightly at the edges. He unconsciously kept running his hand through his silky blonde hair messing it up in a way that was cute. Wait, this _was_ Malfoy she was talking about, she couldn't be thinking these thoughts about him. He was the one who had been "bullying" her since the day she first arrived at Hogwarts. How the heck had she even begun thinking these thoughts-she must be out of her mind, or maybe she was, she had just been practically knocked out. But anyway, why had she been thinking them in the first place?

"Hermione?" He repeated, bringing her out of her thoughts, "Are you all right?"

She abruptly realized that there was a stream of blood flowing rapidly down her face from somewhere above her right eye. It must've been from the fall. She reached up and flinched as the cut stung sharply when her fingers brushed slightly against it. She remembered that she had been asked a question and hastily started to shake her head yes. Her head throbbed violently and she had to lay it back down on the ground, the way she was because of her fall.

"No, you are most definitely not! You really need to go to the hospital wing." At this, Draco swung her gracefully up into his arms and proceeded down the hallway in the opposite way that Hermione had just been running. Something weird was definitely going on. Draco would never in his pureblooded life touch a mudblood. She knew that if someone saw him carrying her that the whole school would think that she and Draco were together in about 2 seconds flat. Or worse, if one of the Slytherins saw her, she could even be attacked. The world swirled before her eyes. She still wondered why Draco was being so nice to her, but she didn't get any more time to ponder the question of why. Dizziness overcame her, and she fell into a deep sleep.


	2. In which nothing is achieved

Disclaimer: As always: J.K. Rowling owns everything except the plot.

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To Die For

Chapter Two-In Which Nothing is Achieved

A few hours later, Hermione woke to hushed voices coming from the other side of the hospital wing. One of the people talking definitely was a male, she could tell because of the deep voice. He sounded urgent and intimidating in a way. The other voice was quieter and had a frightened tone to it. It was harder to tell whether it was male or female. She felt her leg fall asleep and go numb from laying on it. She rolled over to ease the dead feeling in her leg. She glanced up and saw Draco sitting in a small chair looking down at her. Why would he be sitting there? He looked different then Hermione usually saw him, probably because his lips wasn't stretched into that awful sneer that usually covered his face when he looked at her. 

"Listen," he whispered, indicating the voices that were now rising in volume. 

Hermione started to shake her head again, and then remembered about her cut. She tried to focus on the voices to hear what they were saying. The male's voice rose suddenly and started to shout.

"YOU DAMN WELL KNOW WHAT I MEAN, AND I AM NOT GOING TO TAKE LESS THAN WHAT IS BEING ASKED FOR! AS FOR YOUR CURSED DAUGHTER, YOU BETTER JUST LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS. AM I MAKING MYSELF CLEAR?" After this loud lecture, that Hermione could picture the whole school hearing, came a small, almost squeaky voice, "ok." Following this there was the sound of someone walking across the hospital wing. Without warning the curtain around the uncomfortable hospital bed, was thrust open and Hermione looked up with terrified eyes. Seeing that it was Snape didn't help to calm her down at all. The maddened professor looked from Hermione to Draco and back again. 

Hermione was stunned when he pulled his wand out of his robe pocket and pointed it toward them. "Did you hear it all? Did you hear everything that was said?" 

Hermione didn't know what to say.

"No, Sir." Draco muttered.

Snape looked like he didn't believe them and didn't unclench his hand from around his wand handle. "If I find out otherwise…" Snape said half to himself. He seemed to suddenly pull himself together, then quickly walked to the door. A few seconds later a subtle man came out from the office and exited the hospital wing, neither Hermione nor Draco had ever seen him before.

"I wonder what that was all about." Draco said wonderingly.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. As always she wanted to know an answer to a question. Except this time it was almost impossible to get an answer; she couldn't just use a book for reference. The thought of asking Snape wasn't even an option, he would just tell her off for being nosy. Leaving that question behind, she finally voiced what had been bothering her since she had first knocked into Draco. 

"Draco? Um…how come you're being so nice to me? I mean, well you know…like you're acting different them normally. Like, more considerate…you haven't, er, called me mudblood at all." Hermione was relieved to get done with asking that, even with all the stuttering, and awaited Draco's answer.

Draco was silent for a second and looked down at his knees. He fidgeted, probably really uncomfortable with being asked that question. Hermione hoped that his response would be good. Then, after that moment of waiting, which had seemed like hours to Hermione but in reality had only been a minute, he looked up straight into her eyes. She was taken aback at how sincere they were.

"I, I guess that, um, well…" Draco stuttered and obviously didn't know how to explain it. Hermione wanted to help him, but didn't get the chance. Less frantic voices than before drifted over to the bed and reminded Hermione of the earlier episode. She almost choked when she saw her two best friends walking by the three small windows on the other side of the hospital wing, and heading for the entrance. She was using all her will power to stop them from coming in-she didn't know what they would do, especially Ron, if they saw Draco sitting by her bed. Draco looked over at her and followed her eyes over to what they were resting on. Without wasting a second, he hopped up and had sprinted out the door, not even glancing back at Hermione. She looked back toward the window and could see Draco's retreating back. She saw Ron's hand go toward his pocket; she presumed that his wand was there. As always, Harry grabbed Ron before he could do anything crazy. Ron gave one more vicious look in Draco's direction, who was pretty much ignoring them, then followed Harry toward the hospital wing's door. 

For a moment Harry paused, probably telling Ron not to rave about Malfoy or anything else that might bother Hermione in her condition. Typical Harry. As if Hermione would've cared. Sometimes, she thought, she was treated too much as a younger sister and not as a friend. Ron and Harry seemed to overprotect her, as if she was extremely vulnerable to danger. She was head girl for goodness' sake, when would they realize that? Not as if she didn't enjoy their company, they were as close as friends could be and she couldn't wait to see them. In fact she had really been looking forward to it.

"Hermione!!" She heard her name being called and looked up to see her two friends. They looked almost as worried as Draco had been, if not even more. Ginny came running up with a "wait for me!" and "Hey Hermione!"

"What did he do to you?! Why was he here?!" Ron said frantically, looking again as he had out in the hallway. "Did he do-" Harry gave him a death glare and shut Ron up from whatever else he had been about to say. Hermione decided to answer his first question anyway. She thought about it, then said,

"Actually, I was in a hurry and ran into him. Draco helped me up here because I had hurt my head when I had fallen. He didn't do anything suspicious, and we didn't really talk at all because I was asleep." Hermione paused here for a moment, debating on whether or not to tell her friends about her brief encounter with Snape, but then decided against it. "He was even nice to me. He only left because he saw you two."

Ginny, Ron, and Harry gaped at her and then Ron started laughing. 

"You're kidding, right?" Ron bent over in laughter. "Malfoy was being nice to you? That's a really good one."

"Yea, you almost got us there, 'Mione!" Harry followed up.

Ginny, who had become one of Hermione's good friends lately, looked first at Ron and Harry, who was now also laughing, and then over to Hermione who was sitting on the hospital bed with an unamused expression on her face. 

"Um, guys? I don' t think she was kidding."

Ron and Harry looked up, red from laughing and stunned. For awhile no one said anything. Ron looked worse then he had when he had found out that Draco was going to be head boy. 

Harry broke the silence. "That's really strange. Who would've thought the Malfoy had a nice side to him."

Ron looked as if he was going to barf at that comment. Hermione was still silent.

Suddenly, Madam Pomfry came out of her office. "Ok! We need to break this party up here. Miss. Granger, you are fine to go. Just be cautious with that cut on your head. I've alerted Professor Ludar, your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, why you weren't in class. She said to try to get the notes from today's class from someone."

"Thanks! I'll do that!" Hermione said cheerfully as the friendly nurse headed back to her office. To her friends she said, "I'll catch up with you guys in a minute, I need to organize my books."

"Ok, see ya 'Mione." Harry and Ron walked out the door waving over the shoulders. Ginny stood there biting her lip. 

"Yea?" Hermione asked. 

"Hermione? Um, you called Malfoy, Draco."

Hermione jumped upon hearing his name. What was Ginny getting at? "I guess I just wasn't thinking about it."

"Exactly, so is there something going on here?" Ginny questioned slowly.

"NO! I mean, I guess he was being nice to me and all…"

"Hello, Hermione! He's like the hottest, not to mention cutest, guy in the school. He could have any girl he wanted. I could understand why you would fall for him. I'm not going to, like, tell the whole school or anything." Ginny said, half lecturing.

"Well, I guess he _is _a little cute. But nothing happened between us." Hermione added that second sentence quickly. "But he's always been such a jerk to me, why would he be nice now? Anyway, I'm just a mudblood, Gin, he'd never fall for me."

"Are you admitting you think he's cute?"

"Gin, you really shouldn't be going on about other boys when you've got yourself a pretty fine boyfriend. Especially one like Harry. He's got to be about the sweetest guy in the grade." At this Ginny blushed. "And I still don't know how you two got together. Hermione said this quickly to change the way the conversation was going and also because she did sort of want to know how they had hooked up.

Ginny's eyes brightened on this and Hermione could tell she had hit on a good topic. The two girls, linked arm and arm, made their way out of the hospital wing, Ginny going on and on about how Harry had stayed with her family over the summer and had finally asked her out with Fred and George's persistent help. Something she had been wishing for since she had first met him. This made Hermione laugh. When they got to the portrait for the Head Girl and Head boy dormitory Ginny was still talking full speed and had to leave out some of the extra details she would've liked to have added in to finish. She said bye and good luck, (because of Draco), to Hermione and walked down the hallway, carefree in a way that Hermione was jealous of. 

She looked up at the portrait of the two little boys and their mother and saw that there was an extra boy playing with the two already there. She wondered what part of the castle he had ventured from. The mother, Prudence, was looking down at Hermione, awaiting the password. Hermione hesitated, not knowing if Draco would be inside or not. She hoped he wouldn't, but bet that he would. If he was in there she thought about what she would say, or if she would say anything. She should probably stay quiet, or maybe she would ask the dreaded question again. She really wanted to know his answer. Thinking about this was making her anxious. Hermione took a deep breath and said _open sesame_, the pointless password that obviously Draco had picked out. 

The portrait slid open to reveal an empty common room, thank God. It was a pretty elaborate room and Hermione had fallen for it when she had first set her eyes on it. There was a fire blazing in the large fireplace with a mantle to keep little decorations on. On it already before Hermione or Draco had come was a small statue of a golden lion, with its mouth wide open as if in mid-roar, representing Gryffindor, and a deadly green and black snake with piercing eyes for Slytherin. Against Draco's opposition she had placed her collection of little ceramic animals, some of which were a small gray rabbit with one foot above the ground, a raccoon with it's paws up in front of it, and a tiny pale pink pig looking up innocently. She had been collecting them for years now. In front of the fire there was an oversized couch and a couple velvet chairs. On one side of the room there were two desks for Hermione and Draco to work on, unfortunately they were rather close together. On the opposite side of the room there were two doors and two portraits. One of the doors consisted of an intricate, curvy H carved into it, and the other a D. They led to their private rooms. The portrait of the old man and his frisky dog led to the Gryffindor common room, and the other, with a skinny lady pointing her nose in the air and dresses in all black was for the Slytherin common room. There was magic involved to have the portraits lead straight into the common rooms.

Hermione reached for the antique wooden handle carved with flowers on her door to her room. The door next to hers abruptly opened and Draco came out. His face showed no sign of feeling. He ignored Hermione and walked over to his desk with a pile of books in his hands. Hermione entered her room before he could turn around and see her staring at him. She looked around at the happy yellow walled room and wished that she could be more in the mood to enjoy it. 

She flopped down on the bed covered with a red, soft comforter. She was about to drift off when her window suddenly banged open and something black hurtled through, shooting straight for her.


	3. Unaccountable Happenings

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I'm sorry that this took me so long to get out!!! I'll try to get my next chapter out sooner-I've already started it. Please r/r!

The reason that I call Draco both Malfoy and Draco is that depending on how Hermione is thinking of him at the moment the name that best fits that will be used. For example-if she's mad at him she'll most likely think of him as Malfoy.

Disclaimer: Plot-mine. Everything good-J.K. Rowlings. 

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To Die For

Chapter Three- Unaccountable Happenings

The black ball shot straight toward Hermione and curved away an inch from her stomach. Hermione gasped with relief and looked around to see what it was and where it had ended up. Something caught her eye at the end of the bed and she snorted in laughter at her stupidness; she had only been scared of a little wheezing, furry-feathered owl, carrying a small square of paper. She reached for the cute little thing and picked it up. A little squeak protruded from it, causing her to nearly drop it. She petted it softly as she untied the letter from its leg. It wasn't that easy, and it took her a little while to get the task done. As soon as she had it off the owl zipped away as fast as it had come. She unfolded and laid it out on her bed, running her hand over it to unwrinkle it. She stared down in shock at the large lettering, all in capitals. 

**DO NOT TRY TO STOP US, WE _WILL _SUCCEED.**

Hermione had an eerie feeling about this and wondered what she had done to receive this letter. She didn't think she had done anything wrong lately, and what would she be trying to stop? And who would succeed at what? Hermione remembered the hatred letters from Rita Skeeter in 4th year and wondered if this had anything to do with that. It most likely didn't, though. Hermione and Rita had come in absolutely no contact since Hermione had taken revenge, and there had been no more fraud articles that she knew of.

Something up in the corner of the paper caught Hermione's eye. The initials L.A.M. were printed there. It must've been personal writing paper. So whoever wrote it wasn't trying to stay undercover. She had no clue who owned those initials. She could think of nobody with them. But then why did they sound so familiar? She was having a very confusing day. Why did everything have to happen to her? Well, not as bad as things could've been. Harry had many more problems, with Voldemort, then she would ever have. Though, she was proud of last year when she had helped Harry out of Voldemort's clutches. She was too tired at the moment to think of it in detail.

Hermione hopped up off the bed and threw the letter onto her bed table. Glancing at herself in the mirror, on her dresser, she locked a tendril of hair behind her ear. She smiled when she saw the small school picture of the messy haired little boy in the corner of her mirror. Her little brother always cheered her up, even by thought.

She was ready to call it a night, so she reached down and opened the door where her pjs were. She pulled out her favorite pair. A cute, spaghetti strap top, and shorts outfit. It was a light blue color covered with a pattern of innocent pandas in a variety of positions. She slipped on her fluffy blue slippers and walked out of the room to the bathroom which she and Draco shared. 

It didn't take long to finish her usual nighttime bathroom routine. Face, hair, etc. When she finished she wrung out her washcloth and hung it on the rack. After cleaning up the rest of her stuff she left the bathroom. Draco was sitting in front of the spitting fire and cautiously looked around, carefully avoiding her eyes.

Hermione mustered up her courage and said, "Draco?"

She saw his jaw muscles tighten and clench his fists. He turned his head sharply and snapped, "Leave me alone mudblood, I don't feel like talking to dirt like you. And _don't _call me Draco. Get the picture?"

Hermione felt tears spring to her eyes at the comment and hastily ran into her room, flinging the door shut behind her. Emotions raged inside of her. She couldn't believe that she had actually thought that a Malfoy could be nice. How could he be so mean, though, after everything that had happened that day? Hermione wished that none of the things that had happened earlier that day had ever happened. The she wouldn't have this annoying jumble of thoughts flying throughout her brain. Everything could go back to normal and she wouldn't have to worry about it. 

Hermione pulled down the covers on her bed, revealing the red and yellow spotted sheets that always seemed to make her laugh. She wondered who had picked them out and a picture of Dumbledore came into her mind. She wandered over to her bookcase and took out _Green Rider, _an awesome book by Kristin Britain, the book she was currently reading. (A/n-this _is _an awesome fantasy book. Read it!) She thought about the main character in the book and realized that they both had similar situations; neither of them knew what to do with their problem. 

Hermione cringed when she remembered that she and Draco, wait, _Malfoy, _as Head girl and boy, would have to share a lot of time together planning events and going to meetings. Would they actually ever get anything done? Probably not, she concluded. Or else they would do everything separately. She hoped she wouldn't end up with all the work. Even though she visited the library a lot, still, and liked to get her homework done as soon as possible, and maybe do a little extra, it was only because she wanted to do good in school. She also enjoyed getting good grades and was proud of herself that she was head girl.

Her eyes widened when she remembered that she was supposed to have gotten a copy of the notes taken in today's DADA class. How could she have overlooked that? First forgetting the book, now this! What was becoming of her? She might even lose her role as head girl. She closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath, then let it out slowly. Looking down at her watch, she saw that it was already 11:30P.M. Harry and Ron would presumably still be up, probably playing wizard's chess in front of the fire, or debating about quidditch. However, if she went into her and Malfoy's common room, to get to the portrait that led to the Gryffindor common room, she would chance seeing Malfoy. Her fear over getting dumped as head girl quickly overruled her fear of seeing Malfoy. She slipped on her moon and stars bathrobe over her pjs and cautiously opened the door of her room. She exited, briskly turning around to face the portrait minus a man and dog.

"Oh, no!" She groaned. She had forgotten this might happen and had no clue what to do now that she couldn't get to the Gryffindor common room. She couldn't very well roam the hallways at this time of night. She walked over to the couch and slumped down on it, resting her head in her hands, without realizing that Malfoy was sitting in one of the chairs. She was notified of this, and looked up wearily, when he intently cleared his throat. Ugh! This had to be her worst day ever.

"Um, Dumbledore wanted me to inform you of the prefect and head boy and girl meeting on Thursday at four. He seems to be on some sort of muggle kick and wants to plan a dance every month, for some reason. And, er, he said that it's traditional or something that the head boy and girl, er, go to things like that _together._"

Hermione gaped at him. What was up with his mood swings!? He didn't seem to be being mean toward her at the moment. After that shocking meanness that he had had toward her earlier, she didn't expect this. He must've needed a lot of courage to talk to her after that. Wait, did he say go to the dances together? As in, like, dancing together? Granger-Malfoy, Malfoy-Granger. That just did not seem right.

"Uh, ok!" Hermione seemed to squeak. 

"It's not that bad! It's not like I'm a death eater. And I certainly don't ever want to become one!" Then he muttered something under his breath that sounded something like, "like I have a choice, though."

Now that was random.

Hermione hadn't expected that and was baffled by what to think. Draco Malfoy admitting to something like that. Ooooo! She wondered what all the Slytherins would think if they knew that. But, she knew that she would never let herself tell anyone that. Draco was trusting her without even knowing if she was trustworthy.

"Is that why-," Hermione started.

Draco shook his head yes before Hermione got the chance to finish. So, she finally knew the answer to her question, but that really didn't help in this new situation. 

"And I'm sorry that I was so vulgar to you before, and, well, all those other times, too."

Hermione had no doubt that he was being sincere. She could see it in his eyes and she knew that he would never do this as a joke. It would probably wreck _his _reputation. Although this seemed like a dream, it wasn't and she needed to say something. 

Hermione hesitated, then questioned, "Have you always felt this way?"

Draco smiled wryly and replied, "Unfortunately, no. I was brought up to believe that all this evil about Voldemort was actually for the better and I was constantly being lectured on it. I never knew that it was really as horrible as it really is. There was no reason for me to assume otherwise. Then, just this summer, I met Voldemort.

Hermione gasped. "So, what did he do!?" 

"He didn't physically do anything to me, but probably got to me emotionally. Well, he did get to me. See, at first Lucious and him were talking. It was as if I was just something to use as a weapon. I was just there for their purposes. And my father seemed to go right along with everything, he didn't seem to care about me in any way or form. And if I went against any of that evil it was clear that I would instantly be killed. I never realized that Lucious would actually do the deed of killing his own son even though he has abused me many times and threatened that he would kill me even more. Voldemort kept looking at me in the most frightening way. It suddenly came to me, after all these years, how wrong all of this was. I mostly regret that it took me that long to realize it." Draco put his hand to his head.

"But that means either you are killed or you become a death eater! So you have no choice!"

"Like I don't know that. That's why I was like that earlier; I was thinking about it. The only thing I could think of is to become a death eater, but be a spy for the good side."

"You'd be risking your life."

"Hello! I'd be killed if I didn't become a death eater. And I refuse to become one of them and lower myself down to their level."

Hermione smiled grimly. "Well, I guess that's better."

"Yea, and Hermione?"

"Mmmhmm?"

Draco grinned. "You know the old guy from the Gryffindor portrait? He's been in the Slytherin portrait the whole time."

Thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapters!!!! I really appreciate it. 

Franthephoenix: Thanks for the tip on the word unconscious. I guess I missed that. It really didn't sound right there.

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Caroline: At least this chapter is longer than the first!!

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Macabre: I guess it's a little rushed. I tried hard, though. Lol. And thanks again for the offer-we've talked.

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Zeek!: Yea, I know! I hate when they see each other and fall in love automatically. It's so unreal after all the hatred between them in their first 4 years at Hogwarts.

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Ravenclawer: Yep! I've read your stories too. They're awesome. See ya at school!

And thanks to **littlewitch34, ChimaeraGurl, Angelwingz, sierra muffin, porkypop, moongrlonearth, Arwen-Undomiel, nepthys, sucker for romance, **and **Mage of Fire, **also. I cherish all of your reviews!


	4. Surprises

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I'll try to put my next chap. out quicker, but I'm not one of those people who can whip out a chapter in a couple days. Sorry!!

Finally, I have some romance in here! It will stay throughout most of the rest of the story. (Hopefully-J/K)

Disclaimer: All the characters and everything like that belongs to J.K. Rowling. 

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To Die For

Chapter Four-Surprises

"Tha…You!"

Draco continued to smirk; though Hermione knew he was still pondering over where he was going to steer himself in life.

Hermione glowered, but she wasn't really mad, and stalked over to the Slytherin portrait where the bearded old man was in deep conversation with the snippy woman, who didn't seem to be enjoying talking to him all that much. Most likely because he belonged to a portrait guarding a Gryffindor area, and she, a Slytherin. The people in the portraits tended to have something to do with where they were placed. Someone in a portrait who was deeply involved with the dark side wouldn't work out guarding a place such as the Gryffindor common room. They might possibly let someone not permitted to enter, or might not allow the Gryffindor students to enter. Dumbledore was pretty good at organizing the castle so that things went smoothly. Although, what Hermione wanted to go smoothly right now was getting a copy of the notes from the DADA class she had most unfortunately missed.

Hermione looked up apprehensively, not wanting to interrupt, especially with that scary looking woman there. She could hear Draco snickering in the background as she paused to wait for a break in the conversation. Rolling her eyes, she finally intervened.

"Um, excuse me?"

"Hello!" The man said cheerfully. The dog yipped in exhilaration. Hermione fidgeted and veered her gaze away from the woman, who was frowning at her in an unforgiving way and seemed to murmur something like, "humph, manners these days. What is up with today's children."

Hermione shivered and asked the man politely, "Would you please let me into the Gryffindor common room? You know, from your portrait?"

"Right away, Miss!" he answered obediently; almost reminding her of a house elf. He bid a goodbye to the woman and hopped out of view in the frame, only to appear a few seconds later in the one he had originally come from. It amazed Hermione to no end to where they went in-between the portraits. Were they just in pitch darkness or enter an expand of the portrait they had walked out of? But then would the scenery suddenly change for the when they entered the next portrait? What kind of world did they enter in these brief periods? What it actually, physically a place? Or was there _nothing _between-maybe they went straight from one to the next. She supposed she could ask one of the people in the portraits, but at the moment she was in a frenzy. She also knew how the old man could get into one of his lectures, almost like Professor Binns. 

The glittering stars in the deep navy sky above the lush landscape in the portrait twinkled down innocently at Hermione. Something moved slightly in the distance, and a hoot owl was heard. Who would've thought that a picture could seem this real? A smile tugged at Hermione's lips at the peacefulness of it all.

Impatient to get going she grabbed her notebook, tucked it under her arm, and quickly said the password, "muggles rule." Harry and Ron had persuaded her into using it earlier the day before, to annoy Draco. It didn't seem that funny anymore thinking about the past hour. She made a mental note to change it later. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Draco raise an eyebrow.

"What!?" She exclaimed petulantly. He simply shrugged and looked down at his book. 

As Hermione stepped through the portrait a whole crowd of people greeted her. Harry and Ron, as she had guessed, _were_ playing an intriguing game of chess. Ginny was watching the game uninterestedly and almost looked as if she was half-asleep. Across the room was Neville, who had over the years become quite good looking, despite his continuos knack of clumsiness, though his looks couldn't compete with those of Harry's and Ron's. Both of them had become two of the most popular boys of their year. Ron's flaming hair was surprisingly one of the things that many girls liked about him, and his bulging muscles even more. As of now he was going out with Parvati. Harry had the "cute" look, and his smile just seemed to make girl want him even more. Hermione jumped when she added Draco to that list without thinking-his face wouldn't leave her mind. There was no doubt in her mind that he had become handsome, and was definitely sexy. She smiled at this thinking how she would've thought that she would never be thinking that. In a secluded corner of the room Lavender and Parvati were whispering and giggling madly about something, probably boys. And Seamous was touching up his homework. Apparently it looked as if they all always stayed up this late.

From all around came a chorus of Hi. Hermione waved to all of them hurriedly as she fast-walked over to Harry and Ron who didn't even take the time to look up at her from their game.

"Hey, can I copy one of your notes from DADA class?? Please!?" Hermione asked frantically, "I forgot all about them, I'm in desperate need!" 

"Hermione! We're in the middle of a game! And no way are you going up to the boys dormitories to get ours." Ron paused for a moment for his move. He moved his night back out of Harry's reach, causing Harry to swear under his breath and mutter, "I almost had you!" "Go ask Parvati or Lavender. They seem to be having a good time over there. Ron finished this absently without even taking his eyes from the game once.

"What good friends I have!" Hermione said sarcastically, accenting the good strongly, and rolling her eyes.

"Mmm," answered Harry. 

""Boys!" Hermione and Ginny said simultaneously shaking their heads. 

****

***

Hermione did eventually get the notes, from Seamous, who had reluctantly let Hermione borrow them. Parvati or Lavender's notes hadn't been satisfactory enough for her. Lavender's, although neat, had been thoroughly covered with little hearts and perfectly done "I love Dean's" with large, loopy curlicues. In contrast, Parvati's had been sloppy and hadn't have seemed to cover all the material. So Hermione had gone hunting and finally come across Seamous, whose notes seemed to fit her standards. 

Once back in her common room with a fresh set of notes she had smiled sweetly at Draco who winked back at her causing her heart to flutter. How quick things could change. Just last year she would've burst into a hysterical fit of laughter even by thinking about having a decent conversation with Draco Malfoy. None of it seemed possible. Over a measure of only two days things between them had changed drastically. She had seen a whole new side to the boy she thought was going to become deeply involved with the dark side. Throughout the last six years she had never seen any kind of feelings except hatred in him. Now she had seen him worried when she had gotten hurt. He had been happy and cheerful in a way that he was caring, not because he was making a put down. A joking side of him had been revealed to her. And even scared, when he was thinking about becoming a death eater. All of these were things that Hermione had never thought would be from Draco. She had never thought that he could actually ever _have _a good side to him. Just by looking at him she could tell that he was slowly becoming a new person; realizing things rightly; entering a more healthy life, hopefully to stay this way.

But would Draco continue to be considerate toward her once around other people? Would he put up the wall once again when around house members? The Slytherins would become suspicious if they saw them together and maybe go against Draco. They couldn't very well hang out together if Draco was planning on becoming a spy. He was risking everything! Her hopes vanished of ever becoming closer to him. She hadn't even known she had really wanted him like that until this moment. She would love to look deeper into those shadowy eyes of his, run her hands through his beautiful hair… Nothing like that would ever happen if they were only able to talk alone I their common room. For now she would have to deal with that, though.

With these thoughts flittering through her mind she walked over to the couch and sat down, being careful not to sit _too_ close. That didn't stop her from sitting close.

"So, what book are you reading?" She asked him casually, catching sight of the book lying open in his lap.

Hermione wondered why that had caused him to blush. She had only asked him what book he was reading, for God's sake.

"Er," He blushed even deeper red. "Er, wellIwassortaboredsoIdecidedtotakeoneofyourmugglebooksfromyourbookcase, isthatok?" Draco said all this quickly without pausing to take a breath once.

"Excuse me!?"

"Is it ok that I borrowed one of your muggle books?" He held up the book, which happened to be Wolf Tower, an old favorite of Hermione's. 

Hermione snorted. "You could've asked, you know."

"You mad?"

"No!" Hermione smiled and Draco looked relieved. 

A moment of silence.

Hermione looked up into Draco's eyes. They were misty, like Draco's life was right now. A slight tinge came to Hermione's cheeks when she remembered that she had just been thinking about doing this very thing. Draco gazed down at her, and a sense of warmness came to her. Their lips were only an inch apart, if only… Draco's face searched her's almost asking if it was ok, could he…she looked back at him with trust. Then his lips covered Hermione's. 

It was heaven. 

It was perfect.

Hermione had been kissed before, but never like this. They were together and it was right. She lost herself to the kiss and there was nothing else she could think about; nothing to focus on. Just this. 

Then…

STUPID, STUPID GIRL! WE WARNED YOU! WE TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT OF IT!

Hermione jerked back and looked straight up into the glaring red eyes of no other than Voldemort.


	5. Attacked

Disclaimer: It's all J.K. Rowling's except for the plot.

For all of you who don't know I'm pretty sure that the 2nd movie comes out this Nov. (2002) and the 5th book in Nov. 2003. I so can't wait. They're spreading out their release dates way too far apart just so they can make more money. 

A/N: This chapter is where the title comes in; they'd die for each other…

****

To Die For

Chapter 5-Attacked

Draco jumped up instantly, pulling Hermione up behind him, squeezing her hand for assurance. He didn't dare look back at her for taking his eyes off of Voldemort. If he had been facing Hermione, though, he would have seen that her eyes were widened with wild fear and her face was as pale as the sky on a dreary cloudy day. She stared blankly ahead at Voldemort. She was shaking in fright and Draco felt about the same that she looked. Both she and Draco had their wands at the ready, clutched tightly in front of them, though what damage could they possibly do to Voldemort?

"Don't touch her." Draco said darkly, eyes squinted toward Voldemort, clearly speaking about Hermione, "You have to get by me before you attempt to do _anything_ to her." Draco's hands were balled up into fists, his knuckles white. He looked as if he was going to bite Voldemort's head off. 

Hermione gasped. Being brave was one thing, but this was _Voldemort_ that Draco was talking to! 

It hadn't ever occurred to Hermione that anything could be this fearful, this frightening. Voldemort's long white fingers, and his dreadful, bony face with high skeletal cheekbones loomed out at her. His lips were blood red, stretched into an awful sneer, much worse than Draco's had ever been. Like most wizards, Voldemort wore a black robe, but for some reason, probably because it was Voldemort and that he was so pale, it looked scary on him, more intimidating and dark. As Hermione looked even closer she noticed a curvy fringe, encircling the bottom of the robe. It was constructed of a design of long, slithering snakes. Each and every one of them seemed to move in its own way and swirled with the movements of the robe. Hermione opened and closed her eyes to see if she as hallucinating, and upon opening them she realized with surprise that she wasn't. 

But Voldemort's eyes were the worst. Little slits cut into his face, showing eyes of a color red that no muggle, witch, or wizard would ever in their entire life see. They were almost like a cat's eye, consisting of a skinny beetle black pupil stretched from top to bottom in sharp points. They gleamed out at Hermione in the most terrifying manner. They shone as if the could kill, and as Hermione looked up at them she knew that in some way this was true. Most likely she wouldn't be alive to finish the rest of the year off as Head girl.

Voldemort chuckled softly, fingering his wand.

"Idiot boy." Lucius Malfoy stepped out from behind Voldemort, scowling slightly and dressed in the same kind of robe as Voldemort's, except that his robe's snakes were solitary. Hermione realized with a jolt that the writing paper must've belonged to him! How could she have been so foolish?

"Expelliarmus!" Lucius shouted with relish.

Draco and Hermione's wands were whisked out from their hands and into Lucius' in an instant. Lucius sneered, satisfied. Voldemort shot Hermione a dangerous look and she closed her eyes in fear. 

"That's it, Lucius," Hermione heard him prompt, "he's your son, and if you had been capable of bringing him up correctly, he would've been able to keep himself together when this, this girl, this nuisance came along. He would have known who was right to mix with and who with not to. He wouldn't have even had to think about it." He said, scornfully. "Your son was just a good one gone bad." He paused a moment to let this sink in, then finished with, "Well, I'll let you do the dirty work, since it was you who messed this up. I'll just sit back and relax."

Hermione's eyes flashed open at this deplorable speech. Draco's hand twitched and both him and his father sent Voldemort equal scowls, apparently for about the same reason. Hermione could clearly sense their similarities as father and son, although Draco definitely had a better heart. Both of them had a flickering dimple in their left cheek and the same shady color of gray eyes. They both, also, had the same persistence and fight in them that would help them in times like these. She knew how determined Draco could become, how he would go on and on about something and continuously come up with even more awesome comebacks like in their earlier years…wait, she wanted to think happy thoughts right before her life concluded to an end. She tried to remember the beginning of their kiss…

Draco took a defending step forward. "You filthy-"

Hermione grabbed his arm on an impulse. Draco looked over his shoulder at her with pleading eyes and Hermione stared back determinedly. Things would only go worse if they interfered, same as always, just ignore them.

But there was no ignoring this.

They both jumped at the voice of Voldemort. Why had nothing happened to them yet?

"Tsk, tsk," he scolded, "Lucius, you're going to slow, I didn't bring you for nothing. Hurry up and separate them. Go ahead and finish the girl off. Maybe you could think of something to do with the boy." He eyed Draco thoughtfully, exactly as if he thought of him as something to use. Draco stared back angrily, though was still being restrained by Hermione.

Draco could feel Hermione trembling and was terrified at what was about to come.

"Crucio!"

Draco was suddenly on the floor, crouched up in a ball, rolling back and forth his arms wrapped around his head. It was the most piercing pain that went right to the core of you, much worse than anything that Lucius had ever done to him had been. His eyes watered and he found himself telling himself not to cry. He knew that all his life his father had told him to always keep his emotions hidden. He wasn't about to have anyone laughing at him at the moment.

Horrorstruck, Hermione took a step as Lucius took a step toward her. She knew she had absolutely no chance and stared in horror at the man towering over her. What could matter now…Draco's face popped into her head, this was all too painful to think about. Draco…

Without realizing it, Hermione had backed up against the far wall as Lucius had advanced. It was too horrible to be true. Draco was still rolling in pain and Lucius was now only a pace from Hermione. Time seemed to be going in slow motion. As Lucius raised his wand Hermione reached out her hand and grabbed the closest thing to her, which happened to be the Slytherin representative, off of the mantle. She threw it with all her might at Lucius' face. He saw it coming and ducked right in time; it grazed right across his hair and shattered into pieces behind him. He looked up with triumph.

"Stupid brat." He muttered venomously. Hermione stared back, even more scared than before. She had practically attacked him! What could she do now? He raised his hand and smashed her against the wall with his palm. With his other hand he slapped her hard across the cheek, leaving a stinging sensation. She struggled, but kept her hard against the wall.

"Don't _ever _try to get away with that." Lucius warned slowly. Hermione breathed in deeply and stared into eyes that were very familiar but much more full of evil and hate. 

Voldemort watched with interest, also keeping vulture eyes on Draco, who seemed to still be in great pain. He was breathing in difficult gasps.

Then Hermione saw something so impossible, so magnificent, that she let a little hope fly into her heart and became determined to win this thing over; she would _not _be defeated. It looked as if Draco had winked in her direction! But that was, that was just absurd! Lucius hadn't used the counter-curse yet. It couldn't have happened! But maybe, just maybe, Draco wasn't in pain anymore and was only faking it. Maybe he was going to do something sudden. But without his wand what could he do. And surely Voldemort knew, he _was _the most powerful dark wizard of all time. At any rate he would know soon. Hermione hoped not and felt her soul lift at the thought that maybe they could survive this.

She was thrown out of thought as Lucius grabbed her wrists and pressed them roughly against the wall behind her. He had a wand, why wouldn't he just finish her off? Hermione thought wildly and turned pages in her mind searching for something, anything to do. How to get out of this? Surely, out of all her years at Hogwarts, she must've learned something to do when not equipped with a wand? Then, suddenly, she had an idea.

She quickly brought her knee straight up toward Lucius' crotch. She wrenched her hands out of his grip as it loosened. He groaned in pain. Voldemort yelped out in protest. He jumped up to help, but Draco came to the rescue, blocked him, and then punched him fiercely in the face. Blood started to fall and things started to get much more violent. Not knowing where his wand had ended up, Lucius lunged again for Hermione with a set face. She sidled out of the way, and, thinking fast, followed Draco's example by punching Lucius. Her aim was true and she heard a satisfying crack as his nose broke. One of his hands came up to his face, smudging the blood, but he stayed in the fight. Lucius fumbled for his wand and came up with a sneer, pointing it straight toward her heart. Surprising even herself, she acted quickly and grabbed the wand as soon as it was up and snapped it in two. Yes, she could've used his wand on him, but it didn't feel right to her, using a wand belonging to someone that evil. He cried out and again went for her. In his rage from losing his wand he was successful. Hermione's face was hit and she went flying backward, blood flowing freely from a spot on her chin. She pushed up with one arm, but Lucius' foot made contact with the side of her head.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled in panic, though stayed dueling Voldemort.

Blackness swirled, but she jumped up in a fury. In his confusion she punched Lucius in the stomach, and he went sprawling. Before he was able to get up again she kicked him, and he stayed put; knocked out. Finally, _something_ had gone right. Breathing jaggedly, Hermione spun around.

Draco and Voldemort were still going full force at each other. Both were sending curses at each other a mile a minute. Red sparks were shooting out of the end of Draco's wand. He had a gruesome cut on his arm and his foot looked disangled, though he quickly fixed his foot with a flick of his wand while Voldemort was preoccupied with a particularly violent curse that Draco had sent at him moments before. Hermione wanted to help, but Draco had yelled, "Stay out of this!" Voldemort figured she was no threat without a wand and continued with Draco. She heard him cry out, but he was soon on yet another curse.

Hermione looked around frantically for her wand. Where could it be? She spotted it alone in a corner, waited till Voldemort's back was toward her and hurried over to get it. Running back with her wand in hand she took a deep final breath and started to say the worst of the three unforgivable curses. 

"Avada K-

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"

Hermione stumbled backward, and, before she even had time to blink, Voldemort had sent a curse toward her that she had never heard of before.

"Kilneo!"

Draco sprung forward and was hit full force by the curse. He flew backward and landed harshly on the floor. 

He was still.

Hermione screamed. In a violent storm of delirium she flew at Voldemort, scratching and biting, not even remembering that she had a wand. She was in such a craze and she didn't even care what happened to her anymore. This damn wizard had to go ahead and-she just couldn't think about it. He had KILLED him! Tears streamed down Hermione's face and she didn't even care when Voldemort threw her down. She didn't care about anything at the moment except this-

"STOP!" A loud, strong voice echoed throughout the room.

It was enough to stop both Hermione and Voldemort. They looked over to the entrance of the common room to see who had issued the command. Hermione felt Voldemort stiffen beside her. She felt a wave of relief. It was Dumbledore.

Voldemort and Dumbledore stared at each other unblinking. Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak and Voldemort disappeared with a small pop before Dumbledore could even start. 

Hermione sank down next to Draco's limp body. She took his hand in hers and a tear fell from her onto his cheek. It stayed, glistening there.

"No…" Hermione cried softly.

"I'm afraid there's nothing that can be done. Hermione turned around to face Dumbledore and saw that his eyes were clouded over.

"He could have become an honorable head boy." Dumbledore bowed his head.

Hermione looked down once more at Draco, unable of speech. She bit her lip to keep from sobbing.

And then, one small breath escaped from between Draco's pale, purplish lips.


	6. After the Attack

****

To Die For

Chapter Six-After the Attack

"Draco! Oh my God!" Hermione screamed with joy, "You're alive!" 

"Of course I'm alive, Voldemort can't kill me." Draco croaked.

Hermione stared for a second then threw her arms around him, tears streaming down her face in delight. Her eyes shone bright and she was shaking with glee. Her face had regained most of its color. She looked much better than she had earlier and had had no major afflictions to her, apart from the minor cut on her chin.

"Draco, Draco, Draco, Draco!" Hermione squealed happily. She forgot about the headmaster and felt better than she had in a long time. 

Draco smiled sheepishly, trying to untangle himself from Hermione. He looked okay for someone who had just been dueling the darkest wizard of all time. It was actually amazing that he had even survived. Hermione hoped that the gash in his arm wasn't very deep.

"You're going to strangle me if you keep that up 'Mione."

Hermione laughed nervously, and withdrew slowly from Draco, then looked up at Dumbledore who was chuckling good-naturedly. _Good thing Dumbledore's so understanding, _she thought. Looking around the room he said,

"I'll just take care of Lucius and I fancy you two will be able to take care of yourselves and come down to the hospital wing as soon as you can. I don't think that Voldemort will be coming back anytime soon, and if by any chance he attempts to I'll just use this useful spell to protect the room. As for the rest of the castle I'll have the majority of the staff position themselves around the school and others do some spells for me." With that he swept his wand around, and a light blue film spread across the room, dissolving in seconds.

" Wait," Hermione said with slight confusion in her face, "How was Voldemort able to apparate in the first place? It's impossible! And why would he come here when he knew, well, that you were here, you're supposed to be the only wizard that he's afraid of." Hermione looked at Dumbledore quizzically, her eyebrows drawn together. She wondered why she hadn't thought of that before. A million more questions popped into her head as he talked.

Dumbledore's face dulled, "Well, I would think that Voldemort would be able to get by the boundaries set on the castle, being the wizard he is. Even I have found a few ways around the rules. But the question of _how _he was able to do such a good job of it will, for now, remain unanswered. As for me, he knows that I'm getting older and weaker, and he didn't know that I would show up." Dumbledore looked at Hermione then over to Draco, his mouth set in a straight line.

Hermione nodded, not exactly sure that she understood, but didn't think that responding at the moment would be quite right.

"The thing is," Dumbledore continued, "is that when word gets out about Voldemort being able to enter Hogwarts, which it will because I plan on telling the students, parents will be sending for their children and the school could be in danger of being shut down. I don't keep secrets like that from my students. At the very least, we will need to take desperate measures to take caution, and as of now, I, myself don't know how we are going to go about that." He finished very slowly.

"Um, Professor, another question?

Dumbledore nodded.

"What was that curse he used, Kilneo, or something like that." Hermione asked, bursting with curiosity.

"That is a very old and powerful curse that not many people know about." Dumbledore explained slowly, "It does not one certain thing, but what the wizard's will for the curse to do is, whether to kill, or hurt, or merely send them out of the room. In a way it is like the Crutius curse but in a much different manner. I, myself, have never seen it used, because there are other spells that people can use to do little things like that, and bigger ones, like the Crutius curse. I wonder what the reason was that Voldemort used it on you, Draco. Did it do anything other than get you out of the way?"

"I think I was just knocked out for a little." Draco said shakily.

"Hmmm"

"Professor how did you know we were in need of help?" Draco asked inquisitively. Hermione looked up quickly; she also wanted to know.

Dumbledore looked at Draco and Hermione sternly. "Alas, that is not a question that can be answered, for not even I know the answer to that. I could tell that there was something very wrong going on."

"Very well, I hope to see you in better condition tomorrow. This room is very safe to be in now, no matter what your doubts are. Madam Pomfry will probably have you stay in the hospital wing for the rest of the night."

Dumbledore finished very surely. Following that, he quickly conjured up ropes which stealthily bound themselves up around Lucius' hands and ankles. Dumbledore held his wand up and Lucius floated eerily up beside him, his head lolling uselessly.

Hermione watched interestedly and noted that Dumbledore used the same spell that she had seen Lupin use on Snape in her 3rd year.

With a curt nod of his head, Dumbledore left the common room leaving Hermione wondering if he knew the passwords to every room in the castle. Sometimes Dumbledore could be pretty peculiar, Voldemort had just shown up, Draco could have been killed, and Dumbledore leaves them alone. Hermione smiled at his ways.

She turned back to Draco with the smile.

"Thanks for saving me from whatever he was trying to do." 

"Yeah…"

Draco and Hermione looked at each other uncertainly. Hermione felt a wave of emotion spread over her as she once again stared up at him. She realized she wouldn't rather be with anyone else. His silver-gray eyes pulled her toward him.

"I think we have something to finish Hermione…"

Before Hermione could respond he placed his lips firmly upon hers. Hermione closed her eyes and smiled into his lips, deepening the kiss. Her right hand went up to touch his cheek. She was hardly aware of Draco's arms going around her shoulders and pulling her close, one hand holding the back of her head as he kissed her. Once again she felt complete and her head cleared of all thoughts except Draco.

***

A couple minutes later Hermione pulled away from Draco, her face lit up. Draco kissed her one more time softly on the lips and wiped some of the blood of her chin with his finger, from the cut earlier, all the while looking lovingly down at her.

Hermione stumbled for something to say ending up with "We should head up to the hospital wing." She blushed hoping she hadn't sounded like she wanted to get away from him.

"Mmm…that will be the second time today. Well, actually…"Draco looked down at his watch then back up, "It's 2:00 in the morning so I take that back."

Hermione giggled.

They stood up Hermione helping Draco up gingerly, being cautious of his arm. Draco placed his good arm around her waist as they walked toward the door. She felt herself loosen up in Draco's touch.

They slowly walked out of the common room toward the stairs, hoping that they would for once stay in place. The corridors were unusually bright, no doubt Dumbledore was taking action already. A faint blue tinge floated around the windows, although Hermione couldn't think of anything that would come in through a window. Almost every door was open. 

They passed Professor McGongall who didn't seem to be able to talk but acknowledged them solemnly. Other teachers were seen, but all of them seemed to know that Draco and Hermione had permission to go to the hospital wing. 

As they neared the hospital wing Hagrid exited a classroom, looming large as ever.

"Hermione!" He roared, echoing throughout the hall despite everything that was going on, "Are you all righ'?" He bustled over to Hermione eyeing Draco warily, who withdrew his arm from around Hermione.

"Yea, Hagrid, I'm all right." Hermione smiled up at his towering figure.

"Well, ok," He said uncertainly, "I've got somethin I've gotta do for Dumbledore."

Hurrying off, he fingered his beard and muttered under his breath, "You know 'oo! In Hogwarts! It's unbelievable!" He turned the corner. Hermione bit her lip and looked at Draco.

"C'mon" He said. They entered the hospital wing to find Madam Pomfrey pacing the room.

"Finally!" She pierced as they came in, "Dumbledore letting you two come down here yourselves, it's not safe! Now get into beds, both of you, you're staying here for the rest of the night." 

Draco sighed, but both of them got into beds. Madam Pomfrey hurried over to Draco first, as he looked the worst out of the two of them. Madam Pomfrey applied some ointment to the cut on his arm, then applied a wrap.

"That won't take long to heal, just leave it on for twenty-four hours." She said as she grabbed something else out of the cabinet. She walked over to Hermione and took her chin in her hands, looking at it closely. "Minor cut; this won't hurt." And with a flick of her wand and "fixendio!" the cut was gone.

"Now sleep!" She entered a door on the side of the room. Hermione turned to face Draco.

"Night, Hermione."

"Night, Draco."

Hermione found her mind completely on Draco. Her eyes rested on his, preventing her from remembering anything else. She thought of how he had changed and what he had told her. She thought of his kiss and his captivating eyes. She finally fell asleep with Draco's face in her mind, thinking about what a long day it had been.


	7. We Can Make it Through Together

****

Ok, so I started this fic a long time ago…so long ago, in fact, that I can't even remember a lot of the reasons I put stuff in there, and answers to questions, and so on. I got fed up with it because I have so many different ideas for stories that I want to write, but I didn't want to leave this hanging. So I wrote this chapter, trying to tie everything together, but I don't think it's done very well at all. I'm sorry to anyone disappointed by this, but by reading fanfiction on the Internet people should realize that they aren't reading edited books. 

So…I've already started writing a new HG/DM story, and it seems to be coming along a lot better then this one. It will have a lot more fluff and a lot less dark stuff. It's definitely better written because I'm a year older then when I wrote _To Die For. _I hope to have it out soon!

To Die For

Chapter Seven-We Can make it Through Together

"Up, up!" Madam Pomfrey shrilled, her voice echoing throughout the hospital wing, "Dumbledore wishes you two to help the Gryffindor and Slytherin students down to the Great Hall. Although, I think you would be better off if you stayed here today."

Hermione groaned and sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. The clock on the wall opposite her said eight; it was the weekend, why did she have to get up so early? This was definitely her least favorite part of being Head Girl.

Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey stood in front of Hermione and Draco's beds. Madam Pomfrey looked slightly annoyed at having the hospital wing disturbed, even though there was only one other patient then the two. Dumbledore looked somber, but as always he looked ready to take on anything. His eyes were full of their normal twinkle.

M'dear, calm down, calm down. Just leave us here to chat for a little, if you please." Dumbledore said.

Madam Pomfrey nodded her head, turned on her heel, then entered her office.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore looked slowly at the two of them, "are you well?"

"Yes, sir" Draco said.

"Professor, is the school going to close?" Hermione asked anxiously. 

"That will be up to the ministry. I've already notified them. I know for a fact that all over the country the ministry is in the process of setting up much more efficient security precautions. They've sent members up to the school who are going to help watch out for Voldemort. I'm pretty sure that he won't be coming to the school again anytime soon. He knows how much safety we will have, or already do. We'll try not to have too many students off by themselves, but it won't be that dangerous after all the work we've done."

Hermione nodded. She was definitely glad that they had Dumbledore as a headmaster, as without him things would probably not go half as well as they did. Dumbledore always knew what to do.

"Now, are you two up to leading your houses down to the great hall? Otherwise, I'll have prefects or teachers walk the down, as I'm having them do for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

"I'm fine with it," Draco responded looking sideways at Hermione.

"Me too," Hermione said.

"All the students have been informed about Voldemort's coming, as I feel that is for the better. There will be no classes for today because everything has to get sorted out. The next day is Saturday, but after the weekend we hope to still be here and back to schedule, going to classes and so on. I hope we will be able to go about normally, and not have to worry constantly about Voldemort, although we should have our guard up.

"I'll see you both in half an hour at the Great Hall, at breakfast," Dumbledore bid them goodbye and hurried out of the hospital wing.

Hermione swung her legs over the edge of the metal hospital bed, and yawned.

Draco jumped out of bed, full of energy as usual.

"C'mon, we better get going."

Hermione stifled a second yawn, and stood up. She hoped she didn't look to bad, having not gotten ready properly the night before, because of the activities. Her mascara was probably smudged and her hair a mess. 

She really didn't need to worry, though, as Draco took one look at her and thought she looked beautiful. He told her that and she smiled.

They walked out of the hospital wing together, and up the nearest staircase toward their quarters. They could sense a difference in the atmosphere of the castle, and even the pictures seemed to be acting differently. Anyone would know something was up, even if they didn't know what had happened.

"Draco?"

"Yea?"

Hermione didn't know how to word this; usually she was so good with words. Would Draco take this well?

" Are you going to be seen with me in public? Or do we have to keep it secret, because of the whole Voldemort business and everything? Because I don't think I could do that."

Draco faltered. He stopped and took hold of Hermione's arm, looking into her eyes.

"Voldemort has just gone too far this time. I don't care what he, or anybody thinks. Yea, he'll come after me, but with you and Dumbledore I think I'll be able to make it through alive. I mean, look at Snape, he hasn't been killed yet, and he betrayed Voldemort worse the I am."

He started walking again abruptly. Hermione hurried to catch up with him. They continued the rest of the walk, pretty much in silence, although Hermione seemed a bit happier.

Hermione once again thought about the day before as they made the way up to their rooms. She had never thought she would ever come face to face with Voldemort, even with Harry as a friend. Especially in a case where he wanted to kill her, and not Harry. And she _never_ thought that Draco Malfoy would ever save her. Hermione hoped to never get close to Voldemort ever again. He was crueler then she could ever have imagined; he didn't even care about his servants. Thank the gods Dumbledore had shown up and miraculously saved them from the fate of death. Voldemort had always been afraid of Dumbledore, and had only slightly let down on that fear upon entering Hogwarts. He _had _disappeared as soon as the old headmaster had entered the room. Hermione had no doubt that Voldemort would not be letting go of that fear anytime soon.

The day before was a day she would never forget.

***

Hermione finished getting ready as soon as it was possible for a girl. She had spent way too much time in the shower, not to mention doing her hair and everything else girls do to get ready in the morning. You would think that when something as terrible as what had happened, occurred, that all those things wouldn't need to be done. But, that just wasn't possible. Hermione didn't even clean up the mess in the bathroom as she usually did, to make less work for the house elves. 

Hermione came hustling out of the bathroom, her hair tousled, looking around frantically for her bag. She hurried around the room, cursing because she was so late.

"Shit! I am never this disorganized!" Hermione groaned, "I'm gonna be last to the hall with my house."

"Bet you will be." Draco said with a cheerful smirk. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed on his chest; his bag sitting carefully placed by his feet. His gray eyes followed Hermione about the room as he waited for her to finish getting ready.

Hermione glared at him for a second then turned to her desk where her bag was where she had left it. She hurried to get it, grabbed some papers from her desk, and carried it all over to the door. Draco took the papers out of her hands, arranging them neatly and placed them in her bag.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Finally ready to go, Hermione exited the common room with Draco and down a staircase. At the bottom where they had to part, Draco kissed Hermione lightly on the lips and said goodbye. Hermione glanced after him, then hurried toward Gryffindor house.

***

The Gryffindor Common was full of nervous titters about the night before. Hermione was bombarded with questions even before she had had a chance to step into the room.

"Is it true?"

"How did Voldemort-"

"Are we going to have to leave?"

"Did someone _die_?"

Hermione felt like screaming.

"I'm bringing you all down to breakfast!" She shouted over the noise, ignoring all the questions.

"Hermione, are you all right?"

"Did Draco _really_ save you?" 

Harry and Ron asked Hermione at the same time.

"Did Dumbledore tell everyone everything?!" Hermione asked horrified.

"Of course not," Ginny said," He pulled us over separately, "He knew that we would want to know if you were all right, so he told us a little. Calm down, you look like you're in a turmoil."

"Oh, Thank God. Yea, he did really save me…"

"Really?" Ginny asked, "Ooh! Did something happen between you two?"

Hermione blushed, not about to tell everyone about what had happened between them. 

Harry looked at Hermione, surprised, then grinned.

"Malfoy!?" Ron said in disgust, "Hermione, you have seriously got to be joking!"

"You've said that before, Ron. And could we please stop talking about this, people are noticing!" Hermione said through gritted teeth.

Hermione looked behind her at the bustle of hungry people, most of them talking about what had happened. She noticed that people seemed to change the story as they talked about it. Oh well, Dumbledore would hopefully clear it up. 

Hermione was relived when they finally reached the Great Hall. Yea, there were more people there then in the hall, but she would actually be able to sit down without being suffocated by the people surrounding her. The corridors had been hell with everyone trying to get information and people making up stories about what they thought had happened.

At one point in the hall, Peeves had come along taunting about Voldemort and scaring the younger kids. Hermione smiled slightly when she had heard Peeves call Voldemort "Voldie." She didn't even bother to tell him off, though, as she was so tired.

Through the doors of the Great Hall Hermione could see Dumbledore. His face, as well as the other teachers, was strained. She hoped that he would be able to clear things up, because all that the students seemed to have heard was that Voldemort had made an appearance.

The ceiling of the Hall was cloudy, but rays of sunlight shone through. As Hermione lowered herself into her seat, Dumbledore quieted the hall. The hall was dead silent.

"As we all know, Voldemort attacked Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, last night," Dumbledore started, "He showed up in their common room along with Lucius Malfoy." Many eyes turned toward Draco." They attempted to kill both Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy. But with their courage they were able to make it through alive. Yes, as many of you had been wondering, Draco Malfoy _did_ save Hermione last night, and he showed a rare quality that we see in a Slytherin. 

If it weren't for him, Hermione would probably not be with us here today."

Draco caught Hermione's gaze from across the hall. His pale face shone out from between everyone else's. And for once, he wasn't covering up his identity. He smiled at Hermione, and she could sense no kind of cruelty left that he used to hold.

Ginny jostled Hermione's elbow. Drinks had appeared on the table.

"Now, let us drink together for Draco and Hermione and their bravery in facing Voldemort." Dumbledore raised his drink to his lips.

Hermione blushed as everyone drank to the two of them. Harry smiled at her from across the table as he drank from his goblet.

Slowly the chatter in the hall became normal as everyone began his or her meal. Although the hall seemed normal enough, Hermione couldn't help but think that it seemed to be larger then usual. Everyone kept looking over at her and there was sort of tension in the air that wasn't normally there. She shrunk in her seat and tried to ignore it as she ate.

Hermione decided that she finally had enough of it.

"I'm going for a walk, guys."

"But-" Ron was cut off as Hermione waked over to Dumbledore.

"Do you think it would be all right if I went for a walk outside, around the lake? Or would that be too dangerous?"

Dumbledore smiled.

"I've put enough protection around this school since last night that it could withhold from anything. I don't think it would be right to keep everyone kept locked up. You'll be absolutely fine on the castle grounds."

"Thanks, " Hermione sighed in relief.

She walked quickly and quietly out of the hall, avoiding eye contact with anyone on her way out. As she walked onto the grounds she breathed deeply at the feel of fresh air. It felt like forever since she had last been out here.

The sun shone brightly through a break in the clouds and the trees swayed slightly in the breeze. The lake rippled where one of the giant squid's tentacles poked out. It was a great day.

Hermione jumped at a sound behind her. She turned around quickly.

"Hey, it's only me," Draco said softly.

"I know," Hermione said, glad he had followed her out.

They stood silently at the edge of the lake, the sun reflecting of the surface. Hermione couldn't wish for more at the moment, and she wished things could forever be this peaceful.

"Hermione?"

"Yea?"

"Thanks," Draco took her hand in his.

"For what? You're the one who saved my life…" Hermione said, partially confused.

"For making me realize who I really am."

Hermione turned toward Draco and squeezed his hand.

Draco smiled and continued,

"We can make it through this together, and in the end we'll come out on top."

Hermione placed her head on Draco's chest and smiled in hope as the sun rose farther into the sky. She was Draco's and Draco was her's. There was _nothing_ more meaningful then that. 

****

Mwahaha! It's done! Now all you annoying people out there can't bother me about finishing this anymore! And I'll be able to work on my new story! And then you'll all be back again with more complaints about adding the next chapter that will take me forever to type up. *sigh* I can never win…

Note to Sir Mordred(Hades): ha! I finished! (see above, I don't feel like ranting much more, lol!) Now you shall not marry my love, lady Guenevere, (eww, don't get the wrong picture, I _am _a girl), since I have done your bidding. And you'll never get your cheese. And you will still die at the sword of Katie, oops I mean King Arthur. And do I really still have to die in front of the whole class??? You do realize that my current (lol, please forget about the last one) crush is in that class…*cough, sits next to me in English, cough* …

Anyone other then Mordred please ignore this little bit of nonesense…


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